00:00U.S. District Judge Eileen Cannon, on Monday, formally dismissed the federal charges against
00:05former President Donald Trump for allegedly withholding government documents, ruling special
00:10counsel Jack Smith was unlawfully appointed.
00:14This is the latest in a series of blows to criminal cases against the former president.
00:19Cannon sided with Trump's request to dismiss the charges against him under the Constitution's
00:23Appointment Clause, as the ex-president claimed Smith's appointment by U.S. Attorney General
00:28Merrick Garland violated the law.
00:31Judge Cannon, a Trump appointee, ruled someone with Smith's level of power should only have
00:36been appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
00:40She also ruled Smith's appointment violated the Constitution's Appropriations Clause because
00:44Congress had not appropriated funds to Smith's investigations, as required under federal
00:49law.
00:50Cannon's ruling came after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas made the same argument
00:55in his concurrence to the court's ruling granting Trump some immunity from criminal
00:59prosecution in his federal election case.
01:02Over the last few decades, numerous special counsel investigations have proceeded without
01:07issue under the current statute.
01:09That list includes the special counsel investigation into Hunter Biden.
01:12When Biden's lawyers made a similar argument in their motion to dismiss the case by arguing
01:17special counsel David Weiss was unlawfully appointed, the federal judge in that case,
01:21also a Trump appointee, rejected the motion.
01:25Trump was indicted on 40 federal felony charges for allegedly withholding national security
01:29information by bringing White House documents, including classified materials, back to Mar-a-Lago
01:35with him, and for allegedly obstructing the government's investigation into retrieving
01:39the documents.
01:41For more on this story, check out Alison Durkee's article in the link in the description.
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